"Mr. Social Security" Indicted for Defrauding Government Out of $600M in Disability Benefits

A notorious Kentucky attorney who called himself “Mr. Social Security” has been indicted in federal court after an ongoing FBI investigation uncovered evidence that he worked with doctors and an administrative law judge to procure hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits for clients who may not have been disabled.

As we’ve previously reported, attorney Eric Conn built the third largest disability benefits practice in the United States out of his tiny eastern Kentucky town. According to the indictment, Conn worked with a team of doctors to submit fraudulent medical evidence to the Social Security Administration in support of his clients’ disability applications. Once the applications were initially rejected, Conn allegedly paid off administrative law judge David Daugherty to approve the applications on appeal. According to a previous investigation, Daugherty, who was also indicted, never rejected an appeal by one of Conn’s clients. The team of Conn and Daugherty apparently obtained more than $600 million in potentially fraudulent benefits for Conn’s clients, although many of those individuals may have been eligible for assistance despite Conn’s alleged misconduct.

If convicted of the most serious charges, Conn could face more than 20 years in prison.

To read the full story from the Louisville Courier Journal, click here.